Ich Quarantine tank

eltonsworld47 · Jun 18, 2022

Hello everyone,
I recently posted on here about needing help diagnosing my tang and now my puffer with ich but it is definitely ich. I now have them both in two separate QT tanks so I could dose the puffer a little gentler than my tang. A few questions though to make sure I get this right. Do I need some sort of circulation pump or wave maker in them? In my puffers QT tank I have a bubble wand and that seems to keep him moving but my tang doesn’t have anything. They’re only 10 gallon QT tanks and I can’t seem to find anything that would be gentle enough for that size. Should I get one for both or in QT is it okay? Also, should there be ammonia spikes, how can I do water changes? I read that you essentially add water dosed the same level as what is in the tank and while this sounds simple (and maybe this is being dumb) wouldn’t adding water with the same concentration of copper still raise it as I would be adding more? If someone could simplify this for me that would be great.

Sebastiancrab · Jun 18, 2022

You need to have an air stone with pump. Extra aeration is always needed with medications. Don't worry about a powerhead. When you do a water change you will need to replicate your medication dosage in proportion to what you replaced. Do you have a (non API) copper test kit? Your copper level needs to be monitored also.

vetteguy53081 · Jun 18, 2022

Most important is to maintain therapuetic levels for a full period of 30 days. Aeration not required but of benefit. Therapuetic levels vary with various copper product.
Which copper are you using?
In addition to monitoring copper levels, monitor water quality and any reactions to treatment.

Milkman420 · Jun 18, 2022

You could just throw airstones in the qt. You need to increase oxygenation. Marine land makes small circulation pumps I believe if that’s the route you want to take.

Tamberav · Jun 18, 2022

You dose water change water to match. So if you have 0.5 copper in the tank and removed 2 gallons, you would replace with 2 gallons of 0.5 copper water.

You do not add any to top off water

you need water movement or aeration to prevent fish suffocating (gas exchange).

Jay Hemdal · Jun 19, 2022

Managing ammonia in new quarantine tanks is tricky. You should have some sort of biofilter. You may need to add bacteria in a bottle. Both tanks are going to need aeration and filtration.Actually you may have a problem with the puffer fish a low-dose of copper may not cure the ich.
Jay

MnFish1 · Jun 19, 2022

@Jay Hemdal for my education/confirmation - are puffers really as sensitive to copper as others (or more sensitive) - ie. If you only partially treat the cryptocaryon on the puffer when you add it to the tank whats to prevent it from just taking over again (I'm assuming thats what you're saying above)

Jay Hemdal · Jun 19, 2022

MnFish1 said:
@Jay Hemdal for my education/confirmation - are puffers really as sensitive to copper as others (or more sensitive) - ie. If you only partially treat the cryptocaryon on the puffer when you add it to the tank whats to prevent it from just taking over again (I'm assuming thats what you're saying above)

Partial doses of copper power and coppersafe don’t stop active infections. Ionic copper doesn’t either below 0.18. I presume the same applies to Cupramine.
Copper power and coppersafe are fine with puffers. Ionic copper is not as much. I don’t know where Cupramine is.
The puffer would be the lowest common denominator and could well start ich back up.
Jay

Sharkbait19 · Jun 19, 2022

Jay, do you think hyposalinity is a safer option for the puffer here?

eltonsworld47 · Jun 26, 2022

Hi so sorry thank you guys for all of the replies! Been working a lot and haven’t jumped on here. I’ve had them both in QT tanks for over a week. I’m using the cupramine treatment. Unfortunately my blue tang passed away this morning. From the time I put her in the QT tank she wouldn’t swim around or eat and copper levels remained therapeutic and no spikes in ammonia. When she died she had huge white patches everywhere so not sure if she had some other disease. My puffer is doing great in his QT tank I’m up to the recommended therapeutic dose of the cupramine and he is spot free and eating great. The only thing with him and this is my fault, I was feeding him a night ago and dropped the tongs on him and must’ve spooked him real good he’s just a little skittish now. Cupramine recommends 14 days of therapeutic treatment but I’m assuming I can’t take him out even though he spots free before this correct? Thanks again for the replies!

eltonsworld47 · Jun 26, 2022

eltonsworld47 said:
Hi so sorry thank you guys for all of the replies! Been working a lot and haven’t jumped on here. I’ve had them both in QT tanks for over a week. I’m using the cupramine treatment. Unfortunately my blue tang passed away this morning. From the time I put her in the QT tank she wouldn’t swim around or eat and copper levels remained therapeutic and no spikes in ammonia. When she died she had huge white patches everywhere so not sure if she had some other disease. My puffer is doing great in his QT tank I’m up to the recommended therapeutic dose of the cupramine and he is spot free and eating great. The only thing with him and this is my fault, I was feeding him a night ago and dropped the tongs on him and must’ve spooked him real good he’s just a little skittish now. Cupramine recommends 14 days of therapeutic treatment but I’m assuming I can’t take him out even though he spots free before this correct? Thanks again for the replies!

eltonsworld47 · Jun 26, 2022

I’ve using the seachem copper test kit and have been testing everyday to every other day to ensure accuracy

Sharkbait19 · Jun 26, 2022

It looks like there may be a secondary bacterial infection on the tang.
For the puffer and copper, best is to go 30 days at therapeutic levels. Just because the spots are gone it doesn’t mean the ich is all dead.

Jay Hemdal · Jun 26, 2022

Dead fish don't offer a lot of clues, except in a few instances - in this case, the tang's mouth is wide open. That can be a sign of low oxygen in the water, or gill disease. I wonder if it had Brooklynella? Copper doesn't treat that very well.

Jay

eltonsworld47 · Jun 26, 2022

I had her water oxygenated but just didn’t seem too happy from the start of entering QT tank. Ich spots went away but she began to develop those white blotchy spots and wouldn’t eat anything or swim around in the tank. Not sure but it’s a loss for sure.

eltonsworld47 · Jun 28, 2022

Hello everyone,
My porky remains in quarantine although he has had some weird behavior. I mentioned up there somewhere I had dropped the tongs on him and since he’s been a bit skittish. That same day he ate fine, next day he ate a little but not like normal. Today he seemed interested in eating but didn’t take it. He’s still very skittish when before he was very playful and always swimming out to say hello. He is on day 11/14 for quarantine. He looks great otherwise. Completely spot free. Do you think he’s bored? Or the copper is wearing him down? Just hope he’s okay and seeing if you guys have any insights!

jmichaelh7 · Jun 29, 2022

eltonsworld47 said:
Hello everyone,
My porky remains in quarantine although he has had some weird behavior. I mentioned up there somewhere I had dropped the tongs on him and since he’s been a bit skittish. That same day he ate fine, next day he ate a little but not like normal. Today he seemed interested in eating but didn’t take it. He’s still very skittish when before he was very playful and always swimming out to say hello. He is on day 11/14 for quarantine. He looks great otherwise. Completely spot free. Do you think he’s bored? Or the copper is wearing him down? Just hope he’s okay and seeing if you guys have any insights!

Why not run 30 days instead of 14?

I would definitely add air stones and power head . Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but Seachem prime will help keep ammonia levels down during this qt period

TangerineSpeedo · Jun 29, 2022

There is a good video series on BRS with Elliot from Marine Collectors. QT is what his company does, so I am inclined to give them a good listen. I recently had two fish in QT, in two different set ups, because they had two different issues. But one of the methods I use and is mentioned in the video series is I run two 10 gallon aquariums per set up and do a 100% water change every 3 days. So every Three days I put the fish in a temporary holding container and drain the tank, spray down the heater and cheap tetra pf10 filter with citric acid, rinse well with hot water. Set up new 10g and take the old 10g and spray that down with citric acid and rinse with hot water and let dry. Then repeat after 3 days. This way you can interrupt a parasite's life cycle. DRY for THREE days
BTW PetCo is having a 4th of July sale and 10g tanks are 10 bucks. The only reason I will advocate purchasing from them is when they will make no or very little profit. I dislike them...

eltonsworld47 · Jun 29, 2022

jmichaelh7 said:
Why not run 30 days instead of 14?

I would definitely add air stones and power head . Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but Seachem prime will help keep ammonia levels down during this qt period

Hi, I am only running 14 due to that being seachem cupramine recommended time of treatment and he has been spot and symptom free since about day 6. He does have a bubble bar which helped his breathing tremendously at the start of QT. Seems today his weird behavior is gone and he ate just fine tonight and is back to swimming all around. Back in my display tank, no one has had any new symptoms and I did treat the main tank with some invert safe ich treatment and have had the temp turned up in the meantime.